Sandy Denny & The Strawbs
(Witchwood Media)
Originally released after the fact, All Our Own Work captured a rare moment in time when a young yet promising folk singer named Sandy Denny first caught the eye of an up and coming folk band dubbed the Strawbs. Their meeting at a local London club was practically by chance, but it led to a seminal recording that helped kick start the careers of both partners. Denny would go on to join Fairport Convention and help invent a new folk-rock idiom, before embarking on a prodigious solo career. The Strawbs would later dabble in baroque musings and then reinvent themselves as ‘70s prog-rock innovators. Here, however, they start with the basics -- earnest acoustic ballads that bank on Denny's pristine vocals and Cousins' frequently troubled perspective. While there's a certain sameness to the proceedings, the inclusion of Denny's seminal standard "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" and a handful of Strawbs songs that would later be revisited (specifically, "Tell Me What You See in Me" and "Two Weeks Last Summer") affirm the fact that each entity was well on their way to greater glories.
While the original album was once widely available, this new expanded edition better lives up to its title, including if not all their own work, at least double what was offered before. With an abundance of demos and outtakes, the sound is consistent throughout, frequently bringing to mind the template etched by Peter Paul & Mary. It's a seamless boundary between the old and new, making one wonder why these additional songs were jettisoned in the first place. A second, string-laden version of "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" offers a difference in treatment, and a bluegrass instrumental, "Strawberry Picking," references earlier influences, but happily, in terms of quality, both are first rate. Which makes this ...Work consistently fine all around.
DOWNLOAD: "Why Knows Where the Time Goes" (both versions), "Tell Me What You See In Me" LEE ZIMMERMAN
